And this is what the Super Cheetah was meant to look like if the project had been completed...
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Printable View
And this is what the Super Cheetah was meant to look like if the project had been completed...
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Attachment 6079
Here is Ralph Salyer's Cheetah before he took the top off.
Ralph ran this car with help from his good friend Gene Crowe.
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Ralph Salyer's and Bud Clusserath's Cheetahs
This photo was taken by the late Richard Macon at Augusta, Georgia during the 1964 USRRC races.
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Here is Ralph Salyers Cheetah with the top removed, now called the Cro-Sal Special
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Ralph Salyer and his son Mark in matching jackets
Jerry, I love this shot of Ralph's Cheetah with tape around the door to stop it from being blown off - as happened to him earlier in the season at Daytona. The door also blew off Jerry Grant's car at Pacific Raceway in 1964.
Do you know how they got around this problem (other than not driving at 215mph or cutting the roof off!)?
Another shot of the 'taped up' door to prevent it from being blown off at high speed! Wonder what happened to the driver's door - this wasn't taped closed.
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This gives an idea of how far back the driver sat in the Cheetah. Their bum was only just in front of the diff!
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Here is the Cheetah driven by Jerry Titus at Pomona. The Kurtis at the side is Doug Hooper in the Alligator, a Kurtis Special run for Doug by Bill Campbell.
The photo in post 48 shows pretty clearly the lack of back support that was commented on at the time! I had always imagined that something like a sprintcar seat would have been fitted, but it's more like a kiddy seat! John you must feel like you are in heaven with Jerry chipping in here!
You're right 'Oldfart', the driver looks incredibly vulnerable! Although we are building our car 'as-originally-raced' it still has to have a motorsport approved cage, so we will add a diagonal bar with padded support behind the driver's head - and hope I don't get from behind by a bloody great muscle car!! We won't fit a high-back seat in a car like this.
Yes, being able to communicate directly with Jerry Entin (we've exchanged several e-mails) is a real privilage. Only a handful of drivers raced the Cheetah, and I've been luck enough to correspond with two of them.
Jerry, thanks so much for posting those beautiful photos. I'd love to hear of your experiences racing the Cheetah.
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My Cheetah at Riverside in 1965
This isn't the greatest photo it is out of focus slightly, it shows the color of the car which was Corvette Nassau Blue.
Hi Steve: I hope this doesn't bore some of the forum members. I had been running Ol Yeller 2 and I thought the Cheetah was built with better technology. I thought it would be a more modern quicker car. When I bought it the engine was blown up. I got the heads and a set of Weber 58 side draft carbs with it. I asked Bill Thomas to make me a fresh engine. He said he was behind schedule and it would take around 3 months to deliver the engine. I then went to Earl Wade, I knew him from working with a fellow named Don Nicholson. They had helped me in the past and their engines were very good. Earl used Mickey Thompson Aluminum rods in this engine he made. They were for drag racing and they proceeded to snap in half while warming up the engine at Riverside for a club race. I then put in a stock Corvette engine, this was about 360 hp. This made the car way underpowered. I never had a good engine in the car the whole time I owned it.
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Me with Ol Yeller 2 around 1964
This was the first race car that I ever bought. It had finished 2nd in the 1960 Riverside Grand Prix and I was there with my schoolmate Spencer Stillman. He took me to the races with him. I bought the car in 1963 when I turned 21. Max Balchowsky who built it got it in an Elvis Presley movie for me called Viva Las Vegas. I was paid $4,000 for the movie and they wanted to wreck it and would have given me another $4,000 and the remains. I said no I didn't want it wrecked. It was after I had raced this car for a year that I bought the Cheetah.
Here is a good story on Max Balchowsky that I think the forum member will enjoy. I am in this story at the 7:33 mark and do the driving of the car at the 12:09 and 17:47 and 29:37 and 33:50 scenes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ourvuotFuY
Jerry, thanls very much for the link. Dr Ernie was such an ambassador with the car at the NZ meetings 2 years back, what a car, what a story!
I was priviledged to see his NZ diary, even contributed a recipe.
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Jerry Entin in the Cheetah at Stardust Raceway with Max Balchowsky looking in
Old: Ernie Nagamatsu is trying to keep the Spirit of Max and Ina Balchowsky alive for this generation to see the work they did.
Back to the Cheetah. Everytime I drove it my little toe on my right foot got cooked. The exhaust headers came across that area and kind of cooked my toe medium rare. I had taken the Cheetah to Max Balchowsky to see if he could fix it's handling. He thought it was basically a sprint car that was designed to be run on dirt and that it wouldn't ever handle for road racing and if you wanted to road race it, drive it like a sprint car. I never found anyone who could come up with the solution to make it handle better. I took it to Las Vegas for the first race held at what was called the Stardust Raceway. The Stardust was a hotel in Vegas and they sponsored the building of the track. Max came with me as did Bill Thomas, he was the one who built the Cheetah with the help of Don Edmunds, a sprint car builder and very good welder. The car won against local club racer competition.
Wow, Jerry, I'm loving your recollections! Just fantastic. Keep 'em coming. I watched the first section of the Balchowsky doco. Looks great. I'll watch it in full over the next couple of days. Actually, from memory, doesn't Viva Las Vegas also have a Corvette Grand Sport in it? Its a wonderful thing you did, not selling the car to the studio to be wrecked. Many others would have taken the money and run. That car is so full of character.
Re the Cheetah, many of the reports about the car suggest it didn't really have all the bugs ironed out before examples were sold. Your experiences of having your toe cooked are a good example. The cabin heat and cabin pressure are another. But the potential was there.
When you say you struggled to get the Cheetah to handle, what handling characteristics did it have? My understanding of it was that were was some chassis flex, which in hindsight could have been partially cured by it having a more rigid roll cage, but of course nobody understood the benefits in the early '60s from building a rigid cage.
Out of interest, did you ever race a Cobra, Jerry? Given the Cheetah was created to take on the Cobra, I'd love to know how the two cars compared.
Max Balchowskys suggestions for driving your Cheetah like a sprint car probably could well have worked well had you been able to get your hands on a more powerful motor.
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680 hp chevy engine out of Robert Boyce's Cheetah
Steve: I never raced a Cobra. I also never raced against one as they ran production class and the Cheetah was required to run in the modified class.
I went to the race shop of Robert Boyce today. It is located in Michigan City, Indiana and I examined his continuation Cheetah and was given many helpful ideas by Bob. For starters the continuation Cheetah was the idea of Mark Ulinski. He is the President of Harley Davidson of Racine, Wisconsin. He is the one who got Bill Thomas to approve the continuation version and it is Bob Auxier in Tempe, Arizona that actually made the cars. Robert Boyce got his Cheetah from Mark Ulinski after driving it for him in about 2004. He then installed this 680 hp engine in the chassis.
Robert Boyce has made many changes to the car. Most were to make it easier to drive and other changes were for safety reasons. I will explain them to the forum members in a bit.
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Robert Boyce with his Watson Roadster
This is the ex Leader Card Roadster built in 1960 for the 1961 Indy 500. Rodger Ward drove it in that race and finished 3rd. Robert is the owner of the continuation Cheetah and this is inside his race shop yesterday.
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Stub axle showing snap ring
This is a stock 1965 Corvette part. It is also a very weak link in the Cheetah drive train. If this snap ring ever is knocked loose the wheel would go under the car in the stock setup. Robert Boyce had this happen to him twice.
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Note in the middle of picture is Top Link
Robert added this top link to the Cheetah setup. This holds the rear wheel up if the half shaft snap ring ever pops off.
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Chevy 3/4 ton truck slip joint
Robert Boyce found running stock Corvette half shafts with his 680 hp engine didn't work. He converted these truck heavy duty slip joints to take the place of the weak stock half shafts.
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New rear trailing arm made by Robert Boyce.
On the Cheetah I had this part failed causing the rear tire to go under the car. Robert has made his new trailing arm assembly out of thicker material and more in the sprint car type of trailing arm than the original Cheetahs had.
I asked Robert when you first starting driving the Cheetah in 2004, what was wrong with it. His answer was "Everything". Over the 8 years Robert Boyce has run this Cheetah, he has made improvements in nearly every area of the drive train and chassis. Note he has mounted the battery on the side of the frame. Robert also is using 1965 Corvette disk brakes. The cars came with drum type brakes.
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Carbon fiber Cheetah rear body section
This is a lightweight body that Robert has for his Cheetah.
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Front hub assembly
When Robert Boyce went to the disk brake setup he had to use a 1967 Corvette front spindle. These have larger bearings in them, they are required for the disk brake switch. The steering arm is off a Chevy Impala and not stock Corvette.
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Steering rack assembly
Robert didn't feel comfortable with the stock 16x1 steering. He felt it was way to slow. He has a 8x1 rack installed. To achieve proper bump steer the rack was moved several inches from the original mounting place. Robert also didn't like the angle the steering wheel sat at. He has put on a quick release wheel and instead of reaching up for the wheel, he has it angled more straight at the driver.
Robert also lowered the chassis to sit at 3 1/2 inches above the ground. This required moving suspension pickup points and also lenghtening A arms.
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Side view of Cheetah
Robert Boyce has lowered the engine in the chassis by quite a bit. He has also added disk brakes and quick release steering wheel. He has strengthend the chassis and changed the suspension gemoetry. He has modified the shocks and springs. All this in a effort to make the car easier to handle and safer to run. This is an on going effort of Robert Boyce and his mechanic George Heyder.
Now that is a Cheater!
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Dry sumped motor lowered in chassis, new mounts made by Robert Boyce
Wally: Lets put it this way. A Lotus 23 with a legal twin cam 200 hp engine is not going to run with this baby on the straights.
I was going to say right at the beginning of this thread that this machine looked lethal!!!! And it appears as though I was right. Modifications and more modifications to get the thing to stay on the tarmac. So what are you calling it. Surely not THE Cheetah......maybe Cheetah II? And no the legal Lotus 23 probably wont stay with it on the straight, but I'll bet it will run rings round it in the corners.........'straights are for fast cars......corners are for fast drivers'.
Jerry, thanks for the photos and detail on this car. I actually really like Roberts updates. They're sympathetic to the period, using mostly period parts, and are improvements made on what was a model that probably left the factory a little too early, with a number of bugs that still needed ironing out. Roberts upgrades are in many ways what may have been done by Bill Thomas if history had been different, and GM had given their support, and his factory not caught fire.
With this being a continuation Cheetah, Robert doesn't need to keep it 100% correct. Looks like he has some other interesting cars in his collection.
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Cheetah interior, note dry sump tank on passangers side.
Steve: To say Robert Boyce has interesting cars is an understatement. He has 5 Indy cars all running in like new condition, a Superformance GT 40 a NASCAR ex Michael Waltrip car and Vintage Sprint car and street rods and classic cars. It would be a whole thread on his workshop and collection.
I will stick to the Cheetah here. I am sure Robert feels the same as you, this is a continuation car and it is legal to take any of the bugs or unsafe features and correct them. This has taken years to accomplish.
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Heat exchanger for the engine oil
I have never seen this one. Usually you would use an oil cooler. Robert says it works fine.
Here is a very nice story on Don Edmunds, he was the builder of the Cheetah. He also was the Indy Rookie of the year in 1957.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfb3f...ayer_embeddeda
Hello everyone. My name is Fred Yeakel and I live in Southern California USA. I am new to your site. I know two of your members, John B and Jerry Entin. Jerry and I both drove the Cheetah in the 1964-65 time period. From 1963 to 1966 I raced first a 1959 then a 1957 Corvette in "B" production in the Cal Club region of the SCCA. Jerry and I raced on many of the same race weekends. I knew Jack Goodman who owned Dixon Cadillac in Hollywood. I would help Jack at the track with his Cheetah. As a reward he offered me the opportunity to drive the Dixon Cheetah at the February 1965 Cal Club races at Willow Springs. Jack's Cheetah was originally a street car. Then he and Rolf Picard decided it would be fun to go road racing. Jack had Bill Thomas fit a dual air meter FI to the car and off they went to drivers school. In July 1965 Jack had Bill Thomas put a 396 big block motor and a Munci Rock Crusher transmission and off we went to the San Louis Obispo regional races for a shake down with Rolf driving. What a disaster. It would stick in gear and overheat. Then Jack had Rolf run the car in the 1965 Times GP at Riverside. Jack made Rolf run 1 lap to collect the starting money then come in. I was told to drive it from the pit lane back to the trailer while Jerry was out there running his Cheetah. The car was slower with the big block than with the original motor. You might be interested in checking out my web site www.cheetahcars.com
Question for Jerry, did your car ever have disk brakes?
http://i1279.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6awajmrc.jpg
Harvey Lasiter with Denny Doherty owned Cheetah in the day
Harvey Lasiter put disk brakes on the car for Denny Doherty of the Mamas and Papas, after I sold the car to Denny. I also had this Cheetah in an Elvis movie called Spinout. Hope you are enjoying seeing what Robert Boyce has done to his car.
Fred: Glad your a member of The Roaring Season
photo: Harvey Lasiter collection
Fred, WOW, its great to have you here! Welcome aboard. You must have owned the Alan Green Chevrolet Cheetah for some time? Alan Green Chevrolet must have had quite an interest in motorsport in the '60s, as they ran a Camaro in the Trans-Am also: http://www.historictransam.com/Drivers/TonyHart.html
How have you got around some of the issues related to the Cheetah, such as the cabin heat and chassis flex?
Interesting that Jack Goodman wanted to fit a big block motor to the car you were involved with in the '60s. I'd have thought straight line speed would have been the one area the Cheetah didn't need any help with?
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My McLaren Mk 1 with camera mounted on it during filming of Spinout
Steve: I bought my McLaren after the 1965 Riverside Grand Prix. I still owned my Cheetah. It was Ol Yeller IX in the movie that Elvis was driving. They painted it Blue.
A friend of mine named Bruce Kessler was the second unit director on that movie. He got my McLaren in it for me and it was called the Fox 5 in the movie and they painted it Gold. He also got my Cheetah in the movie for me and they painted it red for the movie. I made more on the movie than the cars cost me. So things were pretty good then.
You had to be a movie stunt man to drive in the movies. That is a good story in it's own. Most of these guys were from the cowboy days and would try any stunt no matter how dangerous it was. They didn't want any young guy getting in their union, unless you were related to one of them.
Wow, Jerry, I'm really enjoying your stories. So your McLaren was the car that played the main starring role as the car Elvis drove? Did the film crew treat your cars well, or did they beat on them? Did you get to meet Elvis?
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Gene Crowe driving the Cro-Sal Special with Mark Salyer in passenger seat
Steve: Elvis was very nice and his buddies from Memphis were in Spinout also. They were dubbed the Memphis Mafia. They were his buddies from high school. You can see them in the scene where they are pushing the car.
At Dodger Stadium Elvis got into the Cheetah and I had a great picture of me holding the door open for him. My little brother has all my pictures from the day and I may be able to find it when I go to visit him in March. If so I will show it. The film crew and mechanics were all very nice. It was an MGM movie.